BUDGET CALENDARED FOR THIRD READING IN HOUSE
Having approved the budget bill, H3479, on second reading last Thursday evening, the House will give the bill a third reading today. The SCEA opposes the bill in its present form, as it under-funds public education by roughly $240 million and it extends the House version of pending furlough legislation into the next fiscal year.
TERI QUESTIONS ADDRESSED BY SEN. MARTIN
Sen. Larry Martin (R-Pickens) last week drafted a response to constituents who have called his office with questions and concerns regarding a bill proposed by Sen. Greg Ryberg (R-Aiken) to repeal the Teacher and Employees Retention Incentive (TERI) program. With Martin’s permission, we reprint his letter below:
Dear Friends:
The introduction of legislation that would repeal the TERI plan has sparked quite a number of questions from state employees and educators. It is my view that the bill was introduced in order that a thorough review of its costs might be conducted, particularly in light of the challenging revenue picture facing the state. However, there are thousands of educators and state employees in the plan and many others are contemplating decisions that involve the TERI plan. Some of these persons have contacted me to ask what they should do or not do in light of the pending bill.
I spoke yesterday with the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee whose committee has jurisdiction of this bill. I learned that a lawsuit is pending that involves a state retirement system issue and that lawsuit could influence any legislation that relates to the Retirement System in general. It is very unclear as to when this lawsuit will be resolved. Also, a subcommittee has not been named to consider the bill. Therefore, at this stage of the legislative session and in light of the pending suit that involves a Retirement System issue, it is highly doubtful that there will be much movement on this bill during this legislative session. In the event that a subcommittee is named, public meetings of the subcommittee will be held which will attract a great deal of press attention. Also, I will make every effort to further communicate any pending changes.
It is my hope that this information is helpful. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any further questions. My email address is: LAM@SCSENATE.ORG .
Sincerely,
Larry A. Martin
DATELINE MARCH 18, 2003 Addendum
HOUSE PASSES BUDGET ON THIRD READING
Except for impassioned remarks from Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter (D-Orangeburg), the House adopted its budget bill, H3749, without fanfare on third reading and sent it to the Senate.
Cobb-Hunter took to the podium to speak against the budget package, saying that she’d deferred to Rep. James Smith (D-Richland) and others to make the case against the budget bill on its second reading last Thursday. But calls from constituents during the weekend led her to state her own case, she said.
Offering her remarks as a message to the Senate, Cobb-Hunter said, “This budget that we passed is not one that was unanimously supported in this House. I think it’s a tragedy that we’ve chosen to cut our way to recovery when there is no recovery on the horizon. We are about to enter what I believe is World War III, and we are down the road of no return.”
“I am concerned about the impact of war on our economy. I am concerned about the choice this House made to cut state agencies without any serious discussion about ways to generate revenue,” she added. “We talk about recovery, but it ain’t happening, folks. America has committed herself to a long-term engagement in Iraq, and the question I ask is how we’re going to pay for it.”
“I was hopeful we would not miss the opportunity to do something courageous with this budget. We blew that opportunity,” she continued. “Look at what we’ve done with this budget: we borrowed from Peter to pay Paul, we borrowed from our trust funds to pay the state’s bills – not only borrowed the interest from those trust funds, but dipped into the actual account, a fund that helps poor people. We cannot continue to budget on borrowed money.”
“I am very troubled by some of the provisos in this budget, such as adding $25 to a traffic ticket to raise $23 million. Of that $23 million, solicitors are going to get $9 million, the judiciary will get $920,000, but the indigent defense gets nothing,” Cobb-Hunter declared. “I know many of you don’t care about poor people, but our Constitution cares.”
“And it’s very difficult for me to look at what we did to public education. We reduced the base student cost from $2,033 – which is not even the southeastern average, and not even what they needed – to $1,643, and now we’re walking around talking about how we held education harmless,” she said. “It’s all a sham and we ought to be ashamed of it.”
Cobb-Hunter acknowledged that her remarks were an exercise in futility, given the make-up of the House. “Many of you have said to me, and continue to say to me, I don’t know why you waste your time talking about these things because you never win and you’re always outvoted,” she said. “But it’s not about winning on the vote board. It’s about standing up for what I believe is right. It’s about doing the right thing for the right reasons.”
On third reading, the budget package passed by a vote of 69-46. The SCEA opposed passage of the bill in its present form, as it under-funds public education by roughly $240 million and it extends the House version of pending furlough legislation into the next fiscal year.
DATELINE MARCH 19, 2003 Addendum
FURLOUGH LANGUAGE STRUCK FROM CONFERENCE REPORT
Language that would have allowed the furlough of educators and public school employees during this school year was struck from a spending-flexibility bill, S375, and the furlough-free act was ratified by both houses this afternoon. The SCEA – the only association to oppose the original language allowing the furloughs of educators and public school employees – has won a victory with the aid of the conference committee members: Sen. Larry Martin, Sen. Linda Short, Sen. Harvey Peeler, Rep. Bob Walker, Rep. Harry Ott and Rep. Ronny Townsend.
President Jan McCarthy urges members to email these conferees with thanks for their agreement to strike the furlough language from the conference report.
The act retains the broad spending flexibility included in the earlier drafts. As ratified this afternoon, S375 reads, “For fiscal year 2002-2003, all school districts and special schools of this State may transfer revenue between programs to any instructional program with the same funding source and may make expenditures for direct classroom instructional programs and essential operating costs from any state source without regard to fund type with the exception of school building bond funds.”
The act takes effect immediately upon the approval of Governor Mark Sanford.
FURLOUGH LANGUAGE STILL PRESENT IN HOUSE BUDGET DRAFT
Although an allowance for furloughing educators and public school employees was struck from the spending-flexibility bill today, furlough language still exists in the House budget draft.
Last Wednesday, Rep. Dan Cooper (R-Anderson) proposed the amendment, which reads exactly as the House adopted its own flexibility-furlough bill two weeks ago except that it extends the furlough allowance into the 2003-04 school year, and the amendment was approved by a voice vote.
The SCEA is communicating to Senators its opposition to the House furlough language.
NORQUIST, TAX GROUP PRAISE S.C. BUDGET
Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), the right-wing anti-tax group based in Washington, D.C., issued a statement last week praising Speaker David Wilkins and House Majority Leader Rick Quinn for their leadership to pass “a balance budget without tax increases”. Wilkins and Quinn have received the organization’s “Hero to the Taxpayer” award.
The ATR statement does not suggest ways to meet the $240 million education-funding deficit in the 2003-04 House budget draft, nor does it comment on the reduction in base student cost from 2002 funding levels, $2,033, to 1995 funding levels, $1,643. In fact, the ATR statement appears not to recognize the real impact of cuts suffered by public schools at all, as it reads, “Most state agencies will receive a 10-15% cut in funding, without sacrificing health care or education funding.”
ATR President Grover Norquist is quoted to say, “The South Carolina House is forcing state agencies to deal with fiscal realities. South Carolinians have to make ends meet in these tough economic times. The state should be required to do the same, rather than raiding the pocketbooks of hard working families. The leadership of David Wilkins and Rick Quinn was vital in passing a no-tax-increase budget.”
The full statement by the ATR may be found at http://www.atr.org/pressreleases/2003/031403pr.html
DATELINE MARCH 24, 2003
RALLY GENERATES FAVORABLE MEDIA COVERAGE
More than 500 members of The SCEA rallied at the State House in Columbia on Saturday to urge lawmakers to restore budget cuts to classrooms and to fully fund public education. The SCEA President Jan McCarthy and several other speakers, including two district superintendents, two members of the S.C. House and a S.C. Senator, called on the legislative majority to raise the revenues necessary to fund public education and to maintain recent progress in teacher quality and student achievement.
Among the weekend’s coverage of the rally, which included capital-area television and the Associated Press, the only sour note was struck by House Speaker David Wilkins. Wilkins told The State’s Jim DuPlessis that neither he nor the majority of House Republicans would support any Senate plan to increase revenues, even if the revenue increases were temporary, despite the message sent by educators at the rally.
To read The State’s full account, “Educators rally against cuts”, scroll below or click http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/5461477.htm
Reporter Sophia Maines of the Myrtle Beach Sun-News published a pre-rally article on Saturday, quoting Marsha Lawson, president of the Horry County Association of Educators.
“It's to that point that people have had enough,” Lawson said. “We feel that the legislature is trying to fast track things through the budget so people don't know what's going on. ... In the end, the students will be the ones who suffer.”
To read the full article, scroll below or click http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/living/education/5457152.htm
Coverage continued Monday with an editorial in the Carolina Morning News of Beaufort, in which the editor laments late-year implementation of budget cuts to Jasper County classrooms, and asks, “What’s an educator to do?” The item applauds this weekend’s rally but wonders why the state’s education community has waited so long to speak out.
To read the full text of the editorial, scroll below or click http://www.lowcountrynow.com/stories/032403/LOCeditorial.shtml
THANKS TO RALLY SPEAKERS
The SCEA President Jan McCarthy urges members to thank those superintendents and legislative leaders who supported the association on Saturday: Senator Glenn Reese of Boiling Springs (GR@scsenate.org), Rep. Bessie Moody-Lawrence of Rock Hill (bam@scstatehouse.net), Rep. James E. Smith of Columbia (RepSmith@JamesSmith.org), Superintendent Jim Ray of Spartanburg District 3 (jray@spa3.k12.sc.us), and Superintendent Dennis McMahon of Lexington District 5 (sstowers@lex5.k12.sc.us).
Emails of support and gratitude are just as important as other emails in helping the association to maintain excellent relations with its allies in local government and the legislature. Please take a minute to communicate our gratitude to those men and women who demonstrate courage and grace and who stand with The SCEA on the principles of funding public education.
When emailing our friends in the legislature, remember to share details of the effects of budget cuts in your own school or classroom. Such specific information aids our friends in preparing for crucial budget debates in committee and on the chamber floors.
ELSEWHERE IN THE MEDIA
David Broder, dean of the Washington press corps and columnist for the Washington Post, quoted in Sunday’s Post a half-dozen state attorneys general, who outlined the repercussions of education funding cuts in their states and the nation. In short, cutting corners in public school funding now costs the state and nation more later – when children become delinquent and are “warehoused” in juvenile justice programs. Sadly, Broder notes, the administration’s budget proposals cut many programs that target resources to at-risk children.
Similarly, a UNC-Charlotte professor identifies the culprits behind nationwide efforts to cut public school funding. In a guest column to Saturday’s The Charlotte Observer, Professor Jeff Passe points to a movement of “extreme anti-tax zealots” that has sought to influence policy through politics for the past two decades, and who have found a sympathetic ear in the present administration.
For the full text of Broder’s column, scroll below or click on http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8067-2003Mar21.html
To read Passe’s column, scroll down or click on http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/opinion/5454367.htm
rally against cutsEducators
About 500 teachers and administrators ask S.C. Senate to raise taxes instead
By JIM DuPLESSIS
Staff Writer, The State
Teachers and administrators rallied at the State House Saturday to urge the S.C. Senate to avoid cutting education funds by raising taxes.
The cuts will set back decades of progress by laying off teachers and increasing class sizes, speakers told the crowd of about 500 people at the "Keep the Promises" rally sponsored by the S.C. Education Association.
Some rich districts will raise local property taxes, but poor districts will fall further behind, they said.
"South Carolina is just a sampling of a national disaster," said Jim Ray, superintendent of Spartanburg County School District 3 and president of the S.C. Superintendents' Association.
"We have more energy invested in protecting the rich and powerful than in protecting the interests of our schoolchildren," he said, drawing one of the rally's loudest eruptions of whoops, applause and bell-ringing.
The crowd included teachers, librarians and administrators who traveled from as far away as Oconee County and the coast.
The S.C. House sent a $5.1 billion spending bill to the Senate Tuesday that includes $1.76 billion in general funds for the state's K-12 schools, about $240 million less than the state spent two years ago.
If passed, the budget would provide $1,643 per student, a retreat to funding levels not seen since 1995. Adjusting past spending for inflation, it would be the lowest level of funding since the Legislature passed the Education Finance Act in 1977 to raise state support for schools.
Ray said the Legislature has failed to live up to its promises under the law. He said House members are turning their backs on schools with next year's cuts.
House Speaker David Wilkins held out little hope for restoring the cuts. In a telephone interview Saturday, the Greenville Republican said House members spared education and health care from the deepest cuts.
Wilkins said if the Senate votes for a tax increase, he would be unlikely to support it even if it were temporary. And he said most members of the Republican-controlled House also oppose raising taxes.
"You can make the tough decisions and make the cuts, or you can raise taxes," he said.
Ray said the Legislature could choose any of several ways to raise taxes, including lifting the $300-per-car cap on automobile sales taxes, which would generate about $120 million a year, or temporarily lifting property tax breaks passed by the Legislature in the mid-1990s.
Speakers said the raises could be temporary until the Legislature finds other ways to fund education at higher levels.
Don Jones, standing in the sun at the back of the crowd, said he would be willing to pay higher taxes for education. The 52-year-old makes about $50,000 a year working days as a public-school bus driver and nights as a technician for S.C. Educational Television. He and his wife, a substitute teacher, have two elementary-agechildren in Richland District 2.
"I don't think a couple of pennies are going to hurt nobody," he said.
Nathalina Tolbert, a guidance counselor in Berkeley County, said she hadn't thought much about how the Legislature could raise more money for education. Her husband, Barrett, said other programs could be cut, and he recommended "a comprehensive study to see where there's waste in education."
The House's budget would leave School District 5 of Richland and Lexington Counties $6 million short of the funds it expected for the next school year, district spokesman Buddy Price said. To help absorb the loss, officials in the Irmo-Chapin-Dutch Fork district will ask the board Monday night to:
-Raise property taxes by 9.4 mills for one year only, increasing the tax bill about $37.60 on a $100,000 home.
-Cut 32 teaching positions next year, saving about $1.4 million.
Administrators will ask the board Monday night to suspend for one year the district's student-pupil ratio requirements, allowing the district to add about one child to every classroom next year, Price said. Class sizes would be reduced the following year, he said.
The board now sets maximum average class sizes at 21 for grades 1-3, 24 for grades 4-5, and 25 for grades 6-12.
Rally to urge full funding for schools
By Sophia Maines, The Sun News
At least 170 educators and public school employees from Horry and Georgetown counties are expected to join others from across South Carolina on the steps of the Statehouse in Columbia today for a rally on public education funding.
Organized by the S.C. Education Association, the event is meant to press state legislators for full funding of public education.
The 2003-04 proposed budget drops state aid to schools to $1,643 per student, down from the $2,033 per student average lawmakers promised this year.
The Senate is considering the budget."We feel like this is a retreat of the state's commitment to public education," said Cecil Cahoon, S.C. Education Association spokesman.
Cahoon said the association cannot predict how many educators will attend the rally.
Speakers include several Democratic legislators: Sen. Kay Patterson of Columbia, Sen. Glenn Reese of Spartanburg, Rep. James E. Smith of Columbia and Rep. Bessie Moody-Lawrence of Rock Hill.
Marsha Lawson, president of the Horry County Education Association, said she expects at least 100 people to travel from Horry County.
"It's to that point that people have had enough," Lawson said. "We feel that the legislature is trying to fast track things through the budget so people don't know what's going on. ... In the end, the students will be the ones who suffer."
At least 70 people are expected from Georgetown County, said Patricia Brown, who teaches business at Waccamaw High and is president of the Georgetown County Education Association.
"If we don't attend the rally, the legislators and other people making decisions will think that we don't care and this is not affecting us," she said.
Editorial: Protest climate prompts teacher to fight for budget
Carolina Morning NewsWhile a majority of the world's attention is on the war in the Middle East, an assault of a different sort continues to ravage South Carolina's public schools.
This week many school districts across the state were notified of yet another budget cut. For instance, Jasper County School District administrators learned through a letter from the state last week that they will not get about $39,000 they were expecting as Education Improvement Act funds.
Jasper's Curriculum Coordinator Marva Tigner said last week that educators were told all year that EIA funds would not be affected by cuts, and so they planned how they would apply the money to programs and services. Because the cut is expected to come near the end of the school year, districts now must scramble to miraculously glean funds from some unknown source or cut those programs and services.
It's a blow to the districts but certainly not the most damaging attack on education finances. The state House of Representatives approved a plan last week that denies the Department of Education $240 million less than lawmakers approved last year.
What's an educator to do? More than 500 of them gathered Saturday at the Statehouse in Columbia to protest the recent cuts. They carried signs and rang bells. Some even shouted their concerns: possible teacher layoffs, eliminating programs, larger classes, and how it all affects student achievement.
We understand and share the teachers' frustration about limited resources. But we're wondering why they waited so long to speak out against the cuts, which began about two years ago. Perhaps they were spurred on by the recent climate of war rallies and peace demonstrations. Regardless of their motivation, we commend their efforts to keep education and its lack of support in the forefront for South Carolina legislators and citizens.
The Squeeze On Our Children
By David S. Broder
Sunday, March 23, 2003; Page B07
Under the shadow of war with Iraq, the House and the Senate last week fought a series of skirmishes over the federal budget for next year. One big, overriding question was at stake: Would President Bush and the Republican majorities in Congress step up to the costs of battle, of homeland defense and of national obligations at home, or would they pass the costs on to future generations?
The answer, sadly, is that youngsters yet to be born will see their choices limited and their prospects blighted by the decision of today's politicians to press ahead with an unaffordable tax cut even while the costs of war and reconstruction make earlier spending estimates wildly unrealistic.
The possible doubling of the national debt in the next decade will drive up interest costs that must be paid every year -- billions of dollars that will not be available for Social Security, Medicare or any of the myriad responsibilities of the government here and abroad.
But the squeeze is not all prospective. Some dangerous economies are being forced this year -- cutbacks that will have long-term damaging consequences for American society.
This was brought home to me from an unexpected source in a group interview last week with six state attorneys general -- four Democrats and two Republicans -- who were in Washington for a professional conference.
Their theme was one I had heard before, not just from social workers, academics and supposed bleeding-heart liberals but from police chiefs, prosecutors and other hard-nosed denizens of the criminal justice system.
It is the irrefutable evidence that the most effective anti-crime strategies -- and the least expensive -- are early childhood education, after-school programs and serious mentoring of youngsters who otherwise are almost certainly fated to be dropouts, delinquents and, yes, prison inmates.
Larry Long, the South Dakota attorney general and a 30-year career prosecutor, put it this way: "I can tell you that by the time kids of 12 or 14 are brought into the juvenile justice system, they are lost. All I can do is warehouse them -- at huge expense. The sooner and faster we reach kids, the better the chance of their being saved."
Long and his counterparts from Colorado, Delaware, Maine, Montana and New Mexico described what they are doing to reach vulnerable youngsters -- especially those being raised by single mothers still in their teens -- and to help those parents stabilize lives often blighted by drugs or other addictions. But they also confirmed that many of their initiatives are on the chopping block, as states struggle with declining revenue and runaway health care costs for the elderly.
"These are proven programs that work," said Montana Attorney General Mike McGrath, "but our budget crisis is so severe we may not be able to meet the federal matching requirement" -- the dollars a state must put up to qualify for a grant from Washington.
That is why they express such dismay at what they are hearing out of the Washington budget proceedings. The briefing paper that all the state law enforcement officials were given by the advocacy group Fight Crime: Invest in Kids spelled out some of the cuts included in the Bush budget.
Funds for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers after-school program would be cut from $1 billion to $600 million. The memo to the attorneys general says that cutback would take a half-million children each year out of those centers, even though unsupervised youngsters make the hours from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. the peak time for serious and violent juvenile crime.
The Bush budget increases Head Start funding by $148 million, just about enough to keep pace with inflation, but the program now serves only six out of 10 preschoolers who are eligible. Several other early childhood block grants and programs are ticketed for reduction or elimination.
The picture is similar for other Justice Department and Education Department programs aimed at preventing juvenile delinquency.
"This is so shortsighted," said Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe. "For $300 billion, one-fifth the [10-year] cost of the new tax cut, we could fully fund all of these programs" for the next decade.
That kind of investment would not only save lives, the attorneys general said. It would save money. "We are spending $75,000 a year every time we incarcerate someone under 18," said Delaware Attorney General Jane Brady. "We have to jail them, educate them, counsel them and try to rehabilitate them. It would be so much better to help them while they are young."
It's another example of the long-term costs will incur today's budget decisions.
The enemies of public schools endanger system of education
No Child Left Behind is the latest version of an old trick: Blame the schools
JEFF PASSE, Special to The Observer
Back in the Reagan administration, there was a major report, ominously titled "A Nation at Risk." Headlines trumpeted the bad news: American schools are inferior. Our students don't stack up. Foreign nations, especially Japan, will outcompete us.
It never happened. The Japanese economy tailspinned. The U.S. economy is still the most powerful in the world, by far. How could that be when our educational system is so horrible?Maybe our system is actually pretty good. Maybe our students can compete effectively. Maybe "A Nation at Risk" was a bunch of lies.
"A Nation at Risk" was issued by a panel composed of enemies of public education.The report had no data, only sensational conclusions that distorted the performance of American students. Its misrepresentations were repeated again and again until people began to believe that our schools were woefully ineffective.
How could that happen? Consider the historical context: In the 1980s, a series of tax cuts created major deficits (sound familiar?). Our economy was declining while Asian nations were doing well. Rather than admit to mishandling the economy, the Republicans blamed the schools.
This strategy worked during the 1950s, when Russia launched the Sputnik satellite. (The result was the "new math" curriculum.) It worked when our society was in turmoil over Vietnam, civil rights and social revolutions. (The result was the Back to Basics movement.) It worked better than ever in the 1980s. (The result was the testing mania that now engulfs us.)
Criticism of schools is easy for federal leaders because education is, constitutionally, the responsibility of the states. Presidents can demand reform, but they don't have to pay for it. It was particularly easy for President Reagan (and now for President Bush) because criticism of schools plays into the hands of the extreme wing of the Republican Party -- the enemies of public education.
Who are these enemies? They are the antitax zealots, enemies of organized labor and some evangelical Christian church leaders. These extremists are a small segment of the Republican Party, but they have political power and the president's ear.
Extreme antitax zealots don't want to pay for the schooling of other people's children. They prefer privatization of schools. (Of course, there are lots of antitax zealots who merely want to see the money spent more efficiently. The enemies of public schools hide in their midst.)
Many of the GOP's biggest corporate contributors are opposed to unions, especially the large teacher associations. Anti-union activists view teacher unions as the cause of poor schooling, even though nonunionized states are at the bottom of the educational rankings. The NEA and AFT, understandably, tend to oppose politicians who are aligned with enemies of the public schools.
Many evangelical Christian churches oppose public schools because of the separation of church and state. They have created parochial schools that will promote their religious views. This translates into opposition to public school funding and advocacy of vouchers, hoping to receive refunds on parochial school tuition.
Many affluent families are also on the voucher bandwagon because their children attend private school. Fortunately, Charlotte has a long history of support for public schools from our wealthiest citizens, but that support is ebbing because of the perception that public schools are poor.
I am not an apologist. Those who know my work have heard me criticize public schools. They are not as good as they can be, but are still much better than their enemies make them out to be.
The latest threat to public schools comes from the Bush administration's No Child Left Behind legislation. The law sets goals that are nearly impossible to reach in the short term. To make matters worse, it provides inadequate resources for achieving them. Its system of measurement is unfair to any but the most affluent schools. The deck is stacked to create the perception that public schools are massive failures.
If enemies of public schools are successful, we may end up with a system of predominantly private schools. They will compete for students and teachers, with the wealthiest winning out. If schools follow the patterns of other businesses, more than 50 percent will fail each year. Public schools will be like public housing -- only for the poor. The implications for our community are dire. There will be many, many children "left behind."
Fortunately, No Child Left Behind is optional. Because the feds can't require it, they offer financial incentives for states to participate. So far, the program, to no one's surprise, has been substantially underfunded. North Carolina may actually lose money in the deal. We have a chance to fight against the enemies of public education. We can turn down the money and save our public schools.
DATELINE MARCH 26, 2003
RALLY GENERATES FAVORABLE MEDIA COVERAGE, PART TWO
The SCEA’s “Keep the Promise” rally earned front-page coverage in the Colleton County Post and Standard in Tuesday’s issue. The newspaper has no website but associate editor and reporter Libby Roerig forwarded the text of her article to us in email. It is copied below:
By LIBBY ROERIG
Associate Editor
School bells were ringing Saturday afternoon at the S.C. State House.
But school wasn’t in.
Rather, the 400 angry educators were ringing their hand-size bells to get the attention of legislators. Colleton County Supt. Charles Gale and a handful of local teachers were among those gathered on the steps of the capitol building.Gale recently learned of another two percent across-the-board cut, which equates to roughly $373,000 in funding, he said.
“I was told to plan for that. We can expect for that to be a reality,” he said. This cutback comes on top of the $1.9 million slashed already from the budget this fiscal year. Wednesday, Gale received confirmation that the rumored cut in Education Improvement Act (EIA) amounted to $85,000. Simply put, the district will have to finish out the school year minus $2,358,000.Legislation recently passed allows for 100 percent flexibility in spending money earmarked for programs like summer school. Gale previously thought this flexibility would help the district make it through the school year, as the district already needs $332,808 to balance this year’s budget, but this recent cut eliminates nearly all money from these special accounts and still leaves the district’s budget in the red, he said.
And if the situation couldn’t get any worse, a preliminary funding report for next year shows the district having $1.2 million less of what they have now — after the cuts. Having exhausted all of his creative financing, Gale confirmed rumors that the district is considering closing a middle school if the funding situation worsens or doesn’t improve next year. After exploring which school to close, Colleton Middle School Annex, which serves only sixth graders, was selected for the chopping block. Anna Varnado, who was one of 10 speakers at the rally, echoed comments made at the Colleton County Board meeting last week.
“We have the power to effect change. There is strength in numbers. The public outcry for our children will be heard,” said Varnado at the meeting. “We elected them, and we want them to do the right thing by our children.”Politicians were the targets of most speakers’ attacks.
Speakers agreed a majority of elected officials lack the courage and responsibility needed to adequately fund schools. Similarly, Gale said at last week’s board meeting that he has positive feelings about Colleton’s legislative delegation, but he is worried about other county’s elected officials.
“I feel very good about our representation, most are very pro-education,” he said. “I wish they represented the entire state, we’d be in better shape.”
Jim Ray, who is superintendent of Spartanburg District 3, said politicians say throwing money at the problem won’t solve anything.
“We don’t know — we never tried it,” Ray said. Instead, local governments have been looked at to make up state budgeting shortfalls. With districts like Colleton unable or unwilling to raise the needed revenue, the schools go unfunded, a situation Ray compared to starving a child. “For God’s sake, show some leadership,” he said.
Many in Columbia have blamed the budget situation on a slowing economy, said Dennis McMahon, superintendent of Lexington District 5. “It’s not just economics,” he said and listed a variety of tax exemptions the state has enacted since 1996.
Sen. Glenn Reese (D-Spartanburg) says funding education would actually help the economy. With a state dropout rate of 30 percent, Reese said teens are clogging up the Department of Juvenile Justice and costing the tax payers money.“If we keep these kids in school, the economy will take care of itself,” Reese said. With an educated workforce, industries will want to locate here.
McMahon suggested several taxing options to help the budget including increasing the sales tax by one cent, which, to his calculations, would generate $542 million in revenue, increasing taxes on cigarettes by eight cents, which would generate $28 million, increasing alcoholic beverage taxes by five cents, which would generate $54 million, taxing soft drinks, which would generate $39 million, and changing sales tax on vehicles from $300 to five percent would generate $94 million. While rally speakers criticized legislators for not having a plan to fix the budget, McMahon has several ideas on how to encourage these elected officials. He suggested teachers and administrator invite their representatives to visit the schools. McMahon cautioned for educators not to be too nice. “Don’t be afraid to tell them the truth,” he said.
Or communities could have a town hall meeting and let their elected officials know how much they value education. McMahon further suggested citizens issue a report card for politicians, just like students and schools do.“You can make a difference. You’re making a difference being here today,” he said.
With a small amount of money to go around, especially in lottery revenues, Rep. Bessie Moody-Lawrence (D-Rock Hill), warned educators, K-12 and college-level, not to fight amongst themselves. “They want us to fight over the money,” Lawrence said. “When we get done fighting over the money, the money won’t be there.” She used the analogy of a rope — the fibers wound together is strong, but when the fibers are separated, it can be broken.
Change is needed in who controls the government, said S.C. Rep. James Smith (D-Columbia), who is the minority leader for the House of Representatives. With thousands of teachers across the state, teachers have authority to change who will be re-elected. “I’m a teacher and I’m here to teach you a lesson about democracy,” he said.
Lawrence, who earlier expressed her opposition to furloughs by saying her collegues must be mentally ill to suggest sending teachers home, echoed Smith’s feelings. Politicians are all for education when they are running for office, but that all changes after they’re elected.“When they come around talking their slick talk, you give them a furlough,” she said.
Public schools have educated without discrimination, said Ray. “Throw away children” — those whose native language isn’t English, those with a disability, those who are poor — are welcomed no where else but in public schools, he said.“We still help those children. We still make a difference in their lives,” Ray said. Having raised three children and been an elementary teacher for 10 years, Lawrence said she knows first hand the difficulties educators face trying to address different ability levels.
Teachers can’t say, “You all sit over there until your light bulb comes on,” Lawrence said.
Additionally, school systems nationwide have had to adjust to and cope with the problems society dumps in their laps. “We’ve done very well in shouldering that abuse,” Ray said.
Despite all of their achievements, school systems spend more time and money fighting off special interest groups than they do on the kids who need attention, Ray said. Ray specifically named the “score card crowd,” who are constantly grading public schools, and “critics with an agenda,” who would like to see schools homogenized on the basis of race or religion.
(This article was first published in the March 25, 2003, issue of The Press and Standard, a newspaper serving Colleton County.)
DATELINE MARCH 27, 2003
QUIET IN COLUMBIA, ACTION IN WASHINGTON
While lawmakers in Columbia are doing and saying little to affect public education this week, things are very different in Washington. South Carolina’s own U.S. Rep. Jim DeMint has introduced legislation that will create a federal voucher plan modeled on a voucher program used in Florida.
The SCEA President Jan McCarthy urges members to call and email Rep. DeMint’s offices in Washington and in South Carolina – and the offices of South Carolina’s entire Congressional delegation – and express opposition to HR1373. Until public education in South Carolina is fully funded, no state or federal programs should be adopted that drain funding from public schools and divert public funds to private or parochial academies.
Contact information for South Carolina’s representatives in Washington may be found at http://capwiz.com/nea/sc/dbq/officials/directory/statedel.dbq?state=SC
DeMint’s bill, HR1373, is called the “IDEA Parental Choice Act of 2003”. In addition to draining federal funding from public schools, HR1373 lacks accountability, undermines parental and students’ rights, threatens long-standing civil rights laws – namely, the IDEA and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 – and it provides nothing to ensure the achievement of students with disabilities is raised.
Following is a breakdown of DeMint’s bill:HR1373 drains already-scarce federal IDEA dollars from public schools and diverts the funding directly to private and/or religious schools.
States and localities are experiencing the worst financial crisis since World War II.
Compounding the widespread state budget shortfalls (which the National Conference of State Legislatures estimate to total approximately $80 billion nationally), the federal government has yet to achieve full funding for IDEA. Despite an original pledge to provide 40% of the cost of educating special needs students, federal funding is only at 18%. As a consequence, states and localities in 2003 alone will be shortchanged approximately $10.5 billion.
The federal shortfall forces states and localities to dip into general education funds – money that serves all students -- to attempt to fund special education services. At a time when funding at all levels – federal, state, and local – is tight, HR 1373 diverts already scarce funds from public schools, which serve 90% of the nation’s school-aged population, and diverts them to private and/or religious schools.
Further, HR 1373 allows an unspecified amount of both IDEA Part D and Part B funds to be used to create and implement (or expand) voucher programs for students with special needs. Such an allowance drains potentially unlimited amounts of IDEA funds – funds designed to serve disabled students in the public schools – away from public schools, which would hinder a school’s ability to adequately provide services to those disabled students who remain in the public school.
In addition, HR1373 lacks accountability. Under its provisions, private schools accepting voucher money will not be required to abide by any of the accountability measures contained in No Child Left Behind. These schools, for example, are not now – nor would they be – required to administer annual assessments, or to publicly report on student achievement, or to give parents individual, descriptive reports on their children’s yearly progress, or to employ highly qualified teachers. Public schools do all of the above and more when it comes to providing services to disabled students.
HR1373 undermines parental and students’ rights. DeMint’s bill states that once a private and/or religious school accepts a voucher, it is “deemed, for both the programs and services delivered to the child, to be providing a free appropriate public education and to be in compliance with . . . the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. In other words, private schools – merely by accepting the voucher money – could be deemed legally in compliance with IDEA and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and yet not required to fulfill the requirements of either law. Even worse, parents under HR 1373 would not have the legal right to challenge a denial of services or failure to accommodate a disabled student.
Under HR 1373, private and/or religious schools accepting voucher funds are not required to recognize any of the parental rights contained within IDEA. Under current law, local school districts can place a disabled student in private schools if the district is unable to meet the student’s individualized education program (IEP). This placement decision is arrived at by a collective decision of the student’s IEP team, which includes the child’s parents, educators, and related service providers (where applicable). The local district still maintains the responsibility of ensuring that student receives the needed services, in whatever venue is decided upon by the IEP team. As a result, public accountability is retained and parental rights are preserved. The student and his/her parents, therefore, retain all the rights they would have if the student were served by a public school. Under DeMint’s bill, however, no such parental rights exist, nor is there any public accountability required of the private schools.
DeMint’s proposal threatens certain long-standing civil rights laws. HR 1373 is silent on the question of whether private schools accepting federal dollars must comply with other civil rights laws. While the bill does state that such schools cannot discriminate against students on the basis of race, color, or national origin, it fails to prohibit discrimination against students on the basis of disability status. Furthermore, the bill is completely silent on the question of whether private and/or religious schools accepting federal dollars would be able to discriminate in hiring on the basis of race/color/national origin, religion, gender, and disability.
For more information about the flaws of Florida’s voucher program, read“Jeopardizing A Legacy: A Closer Look at IDEA and Florida’s Disability Vouchers,” a special report by People for the American Way and Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (March 2003), http://www.pfaw.org/.
